Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Welcome to Version Fall.08
Tell me something I ought to know about you that will help me help you as a writer -- your aspirations, your fears and doubts, your literary or journalistic heroes, etc. Don't be afraid to read and bounce off each other's comments. Your own comments should be as clear and complete as you can make them in a long paragraph (150 words or so). Remember this is my introduction to your writing. Impress me. Or at least don't bore me. (First lesson: That's about the worst thing you can do to a reader. What's the worst? Probably to unintentionally confuse him or her.)
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25 comments:
There are probably many ways that you can help me that I don’t even know enough to say but I’ll answer the questions the best I can without being overly self critical. The question regarding my aspirations and heroes can be answered in one sentence: In a perfect world I would sit beside Hemingway in the world of literature. We already have one thing in common, like Hemingway, I “write one page of masterpiece to ninety one pages of shit.” Unfortunately, unlike Hemingway, I don’t always “put the shit in the wastebasket” and start over the way that I need to in order to be a better writer. I especially envy Hemingway’s ability to say so much in so few words, an art I am a long way from mastering. This ability would also help in my journalistic endeavors.
If there is one aspect of my writing that needs the most tinkering, it's definitely the ability to balance "professionalism" with "personality." In my two years at Dutchess Community College, I have managed to evolve from writing charismatic essays that captivated professors with wit and nutty references, to a writing style that focuses more on clear, cold substance than on an entertaining voice. I understand that there is a time and place for these separate styles to be used (I obviously can't institute pop culture references into a chemistry lab report, and just plain facts can make for a boring story). But, I'm very interested in finding a way to bring about a fusion of these two distinct voices in this new academic phase at SUNY New Paltz; a thrilling voice clothed in a business suit, you could say. In general, I just want to write essays/journalistic news stories in a fashion similar to a good U2 album. A strange hero, one might say...but, it fits the idea perfectly: co-existing with The Edge's out-of-this-world guitar is a strong, often bold message.
I promise not to be like Bono, though. Too preachy for my taste.
-Tyler Gomo
As a visual artist, I feel it is both important to be able to visually convey an idea or concept as well as to be able to efficiently explain the significance of the work. Not only is it important to be able to talk about your own work, but to have the expertise and ability to accurately portray the ideas and concepts of other artists work as well. As a visual artist, more specifically, a photographer, having the ability to discuss and write about a photograph in a way that does not sound like it was taken straight from a text book, proves to be difficult. No one likes to read about art in a boring fashion. In other words, I hope this class will teach me how to get that creative edge back into my writing, not just about art, but other subjects as well, so that when my artwork doesn't just "speak for itself" I'll be able to communicate in words just as effectively.
I've been writing, in some form or another, almost constantly since I was about 12 but my experience with conventional journalism is rather limited. The main form of writing I tend to focus on is screenwriting, I've been writing screenplays for several years and have a good grasp of how the format works. Recently, however I have started writing creative non-fiction pieces about various events and stages in my life, although this is not exactly journalism in a sense that I'm delivering important news or facts, I am somewhat "reporting" on a certain situation. My main problem when writing this way, however, is that I tend to go on tangents and would like to learn a better way to keep that under control. I'm also looking forward to learning how to know what to put in a story and what to leave out as I tend to give more information than is probably needed. As for literary or journalistic heroes, I am quite a large fan of Hunter S. Thompson and have read many of his journalistic works as well as his novels. I'm also a fan of Kurt Vonnegut's style of writing and recently I've been reading "Forever" by Pete Hamill and am enjoying his writing as well.
I’ve been a writer for as long as I can remember. Writing is the only thing I could ever picture myself doing for the rest of my life so I decided to go into the field of journalism. The differences between the writing I’ve always done and journalistic writing is beyond belief to me. It was like learning a whole different system of writing. I’m afraid that with all the differences that I have encountered and will encounter in the future, my writing is not as effective as it needs to be. Another problem that I have is that when I have written a good story, I doubt myself and my capabilities. This semester I hope to become a more effective writer and more confident so that I can write a story and have no doubt that it is good.
I think my biggest issue with this class, for now at least, is the fact that I can't seem to grasp the concept of what literary journalism is. Creative non-fiction seems like a giant oxymoron to me. Standard journalism has always bored me (sometimes I'm not even sure why it's my major), but combining fact with fiction seems weirdly enticing.
Meaningless explanations aside, my biggest issue with writing has always been a lack of confidence. I get nervous easily and I dislike criticism, but I know it's something I need to overcome. Writing is something that has been in my life for years, and I know it will remain there until the day I die. I can't just ignore it because I'm afraid of what other people will think. If I can walk away from this class at the end of the semester with less fear than I have now, I think I'll have accomplished exactly what I've set out to do.
I should point out here that literary journalism is journalism -- that is, as fact based as any piece of writing can be. It doesn't interpolate fiction, at least not without signaling the reader, as happens in Hunter Thompson's work, that what's about to come is a fantasy, a drug- or alcohol-fueled hallucination, and such. What literary journalism does do is rely on the devices of fiction to tell a "true" story. But this doesn't make it fiction; this makes it creative, personal, and interpretive.
I have always enjoyed writing, never thinking it would ever turn into a career opportunity. So when I lost confidence in my stories and/or essays, I just assumed it would be something I would one day learn how to fix and it would all be ok. Now being a Journalism major, I have to deal with the neurotic anxieties of my my one biggest weakness in writing.
After going through a decent amount of my pieces, it has come to my attention that I write exactly how I think and speak, which in most other classes is acceptable, but not always in a Journalism class. The one thing I want to accomplish this semester in my growth as a writer is to figure how to keep my style of writing but pull it together more. I sometimes read over my pieces and think to myself "I know what I'm trying to say, and the reader can most likely see that, but how can I make it simpler?" If I can get out of my own head, even just a little bit, and simplify my statements and assignments, it would be a major success.
Although I have been writing my entire life, I never considered pursuing writing academically or professionally until recently, when I switched my minor from Psychology to Creative Writing. Because of this, I feel I am still starting to get to know myself as a writer. I am experimenting with different forms and have yet to find my own style. I suppose I aspire to present readers with something new, and to leave them feeling satisfied.
The most important thing you should know about me is that I fear making mistakes, not just in writing, but also with life in general. I put a lot of pressure on myself and I need to learn not to strive for perfection with the first draft.
As far my literary interests go, I enjoy reading both fiction and non-fiction. I read fiction to be entertained, and I read non-fiction to educate myself. My favorite authors include Gabriel Garcia-Marquez, Alice Sebold and Rory Stewart.
I’m excited about this class. It’s going to be something new for me and I look forward to the challenge.
All my life my parents have taught me to be creative in everything I do. I read a lot when I was a child and started writing stories and poems when I became a teenager. Reading and writing is something that belongs to me, so that is why I started to study journalism. I never thought about myself as a journalist until I started my studies. Everybody was surprised that I wanted to become a journalist, and sometimes I don’t know why I did it. I am not very confident about my writing, I know it can always be better. I am not the stereotypical journalist (I used to be very shy) but I am getting there step by step.
You have to know that I get stressed out very easily, especially about homework and exams. I always think I will not be able to finish it on time (again, lack of confidence). I don’t know why, because I haven’t had problems with it once.
I think it is going to be a challenge to do this course, especially because I have to do it in English. But I am really looking forward to our classes, I think this will be something totally new. In the Netherlands we don’t have a course like this. And now I can do what my parents taught me all those years: step of the rules and be creative in my writing.
I don’t really have a literary hero, but I like to read books of Haruki Murakami. I don’t know why, because some of his books I actually don’t understand. But there is something that keeps me buying his books, his writing interests me.
(And yes, I always write too many words. That is also something I have to learn)
One of my biggest fears is that I might be heading down the wrong road. Although I love writing and reading, many times I can't find the incentive to write more, and when I think about a career in this field, I'm not sure I can live up to the challenge of writing on command. One of my favorite writers is Jack Kerouac, and when I read Dharma Bums, On the Road or Big Sur, I saw that where ever he went or did, despite problems with alcohol or drugs, he still managed to write. I'm hoping this class and others like it this year or going to show me whether I have the drive enough to make it in this business. I used to take a a private figure drawing class with a former comic book artist in Kingston named Paul Abrams. The one thing he recommended above all else was to draw everyday, even if it were for a few minutes. I've been trying to apply this advice to writing, cause it seems to me that the art of writing works the same way.As far as writers I love Jules Verne, Mark Z. Danielwinski, Vonnegut, Kerouac, Jose Saramago, Alan Moore, Cormac McCarthy, and many more who float my boat.
There are many ways that you could help me with my writing. I feel as though every time I write, I either have too much to say, or too little. I want to be able to write using a large array of vocabulary, and to be able to captivate a reader within the first couple of sentences. Also, I sometimes have trouble paraphrasing - I will read a sentence, love it and want to use it, but I never know how to perfect it in my own form of words. Other than the difficulties stated above, I love writing (hence the journalism major) and would really enjoy making a career out of it, possibly as a news reporter/journalist or an investigative reporter.
I first started to enjoy writing in my junior and senior years of high school, which was also around the same time when i became interested in journalism as a college major. When i started college and began taking journalism classes, my interest in writing, especially journalism, increased greatly. I am now in my junior year and have committed myself to majoring in journalism. I have taken several journalism classes, such as Journalism 1 and 2. Those 2 classes really expanded my knowledge about the field of journalism and made me into a much better journalistic writer. I still have room to improve though as a writer. I feel that i could be more creative and descriptive in my writing. Those are two things that I need to work on and I'm sure that this class will help me improve in those areas.
I have always been the person that friends and family members turn to when they don’t know how to convey their thoughts in words. My biggest issue is my lack of confidence. Writing has never been difficult for me; I never struggle with getting my point across. Since it comes so easily I never see what I write as a big deal. It's never been something to show off and be proud of. It always seems to me as if anyone could have done exactly what I did.
I also have no idea what my writing style is and I believe that because I can’t define it, I am not proud of my work. I think that by learning more about different styles, I can learn to find my own and that would consequently make me love what I write.
I know what type of writer I am NOT, I hope to find out what type of writer I AM. I am not versatile and I am not creative. I am always thinking of ways to tell a story with all its important facts while incorporating creativity. I have yet to figure it out. The final product is always facts, facts and more facts in a way any other person could have given them to you. I hope to learn how to be creative and versatile in my writing and use these skills to make me feel like a more unique writer while still giving all the necessary facts.
Well to start off, I am completely guilty of the last thing you said. I have a HORRIBLE problem of confusing people when I write. I tend to think faster then I write/speak and things come across sometimes the opposite of what I am trying to say. Having this said, this is something I hope I will improve on with participation in this class. I have been writing for a few years and found my love for it through my high school journalism class. I am aspiring to become a teacher but am minoring in journalism in hopes to be able to write for a paper or magazine some day. I am a big fan of poetry and use writing poetry as a stress reliever. But a strong fear I have is having people criticize my work to be something uninteresting or depressing, or even both. Through this class I hope to gain enough confidence in order to expand my thoughts displayed in my work in order to reach out and relate to others.
I like to think that besides running, writing is what I’m known for (at least among those who REALLY know me). In high school I appalled my mother year after year with my extreme procrastination—and then gained her amazement and maybe a little respect for being able to rattle off a five page paper the night (or a couple hours) before it was due. My suitemates struggle to write an essay, starting weeks before its due and frantically handing it off to me for editing and revision. Writing is what I love to do and aside from having the power to influence and inform, seeing personal improvement in style, jargon and clarity is a great feeling. I know my writing isn’t perfect and I'm always looking for critique, suggestion and new opinions. I often read other peoples’ pieces and wish I could sound like them but I realize my style is what makes my pieces distinctive and personal. I struggled with a lot of writer’s block in J2, which translated into doubts about my abilities as a writer AND a journalist—but I always ended up pulling through and I think I grew from those experiences. There’s always the dark, dreading fear in the back of my head that I hold too high a vision for what I want to accomplish and become as a journalist; however, I guess that’s what determination, perseverance and hard work is all about. If I (or anybody else) works hard enough at what they want, they can eventually be right where they want to be.
If there is one thing about my writing that I feel needs improvement it is my lack of focus. I tend to ramble, and not exactly come to a point. I have a hard time developing a thesis for most of my writing. I'm not sure if this is due to my inability for the most part not to organize before i start to write, or the fact that my brain works a lot faster than my fingers, and it makes it difficult to keep up. Either way, it's something I've been trying to work on as it annoys me a great deal. I've always enjoyed writing, and it's something I'd always like to continue with. I just need to find a way to get all the ideas and thoughts that are running around in my head onto paper in an organized way. I'm always scared of criticism, and reading my work out loud. I hope to change this too, but I'm working on taking baby steps here. One improvement at a time to make myself more comfortable with my writing. I'm hoping this class will provide me with that opportunity.
Hello all.
Where to begin.. well, the reason I decided to major in journalism was to rationalize going to school for fine art (photography). With the sweet sounding words of my dad breathing down my neck "what are you going to do with a fine art degree?" I decided to try photojournalism, a field in photography that I thought would make it easier to get a job once i leave the comfort of college. Stupid girl. I interned with a newspaper for a year as a photojournalist and hated it. On top of that the more journalism classes I took, the more I learned about the field, the more I realized how much of a business the press is. So, I've become a bit bitter towards the media world. Which brings me to answer the question that was posted. What do I want to get out of the class? Ideally, I would like to learn that I was mistaken and journalism is a utopia of...truth. But I'm begining to think that the path I'm going to end up taking is that of criticism. How can I successfully criticize that which I don't agree with, with the truth? See where I'm going with this? At the current moment my favorite writer is Chuck Palahniuk. He is the ultimate critic modern society! If you haven't read him...you should!
My main goal as a writer is to hook the reader and keep them entertained throughout the entire piece. I enjoy writing from my heart about things I am passionate about, like food and culture. My hopes are to inspire and motivate in the name of change, as well as a better understanding of diverse issues. I want my readers to feel connected to my work because that is the feeling that makes me realize that a piece I read was well worth my time. Unless a reader walks away with a couple of thought provoking questions or memorable quotes, I am not satisfied because it is a clear indication that he or she has not been impacted in the way I intended.
I strive to be concise, yet articulate. I fear that once I click submit comment on the Blog page my words will be set in stone with no room for last minute corrections. My words on paper never tend to be my last, which is one thing I wish to improve on as a journalist in order to be sure that I completely convey my thoughts.
My love for writing started when I was really young, because I was awful at math and science but excelled in english. As I got older, I realized how creative one can be with his or her words, which is why I have decided to pursue a career where I am able to write all the time. Journalism intrigues me not only because I will be able to write, but because I will educate myself by publishing pieces to educate others. I am excited for this class because it has both literature and journalism in the title, two things I don't really tire of. I hope to learn more about what literary journalism is and how I can create pieces of it myself. Also, I'd love if my writing sucked a little less.
There are many things that inspire me to write; a big motivator is American politics as well as world politics and different social and economic trends. That is what encourages me to master journalistic writing. It is important that people's trust in the press is restored and by writing as clearly and accurately as possible perhaps I can encourage people to have more faith. Samantha Powers wrote very detailed accounts of how the government dealt with genocide in her book "America and the Age of Genocide." One of the things I need help with is remembering what sources to look for and how to detail them without boring the reader. I enjoy writing creatively about those issues as well because it allows the reader to think more philosophically about our behaviors and what drives us. I just finished reading Aldous Huxley's Brave New World and I love the way he imagines the future and how it makes the reader wonder whether or not this future is already becoming what we know as the present day. If I could accomplish my role as a journalist and continue my creative writing so eventually it would published and available to a wide audience that would be thrilling. I used to be an art major and neglecting my creative side is impossible.
I've always seen writing as a way to share experiences with others that don't necessarily need sharing but I think are entertaining. My writing style is full of typical journalistic faux pas mostly because my favorite literary device is the run on sentence. I like going off on tangents and giving details that have nothing to do with the main focus of stories just because I like painting a fuller picture. But this is mostly only true in my feature and arts and entertainment based writing. Unfortunately that makes it hard for me when it comes time to write hard news because I feel restricted. Lester Bangs just wrote whatever he wanted. Sure, it wasn't hard news but I love how he could completely trash an album and then later on reveal that he actually loves it and you don't think any less of him. Nothing about his writing seems contrived or fake.
I took Creative Writing during my second semester at SUNY New Paltz. With the most positive criticism possible, I was told my writing is too conversational and lacks depth. My stories lacked conflict, and my characters are one dimensional.
Ok, so my professor only told me the first part. But I feel like my stories lack depth, and I don't know any of my characters. I haven't attempted to write a story since Spring 2006 when I took that class. But I want to.
I think Journalism goes beyond just the facts and reporting. There's gotta be something enticing, like a cocky attitude because you're a writer and you sound damn smart. Or some witty comment because hey, you're a writer and know how to woo people.
And if you can write creative fiction or create imagery or convey ideas in a detailed, intimate way, then beyond knowing people skills and communicating, you're that much better of a journalist.
I don't know my aspirations any more because I don't know what the hell I want to do. I have no idea if I want to be a journalist.
I do know that I want to write well, even if its for my personal satisfaction. I also do know that as a journalist, you have to be well-versed.
And combining both skills, I feel pretty damn smart.
I think my biggest problem with my writing is my "writer's ADD". I sit down to write, get an idea, then go with it....for about two minutes. I tend to constantly edit myself while writing, which I think isn't really the best way to go by it. Also, I tend to not be as daring or creative as I would like to be. I gave up on creative writing years ago, and I think it's about time I got back to that and learned how to insert that creativity into the writing I do every day. I think I need to break out of the classic journalism mode and learn how to take chances.
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